Date: Tue, 20 Sep 94 19:34:31 -0500
Originator: knit@geom.umn.edu
Sender: knit@geom.umn.edu
From: sbleimeh@students.wisc.edu (Susan Bleimehl)
To: Multiple recipients of list <knit@geom.umn.edu>
Subject: report alice starmore class (long)

This is for Nancy and others who may be interested in the Alice Starmore
class I attended this past Saturday. I had a most wonderful time. A lady I
work with went also--she had a wonderful time. Alice is a very good
teacher. I will try to recap my day.

We started at 9am and began with the homework that we were asked to do and
bring in. The homework was knitting a mock sweater with a center steek, and
two armhole steeks, one straight up and the other shaped. We began by
grafting the shoulders with the kitchner stitch. Alice went around to each
person in turn to make sure that we were doing it correctly. This is what
she does for each of her sweaters and she design the patterns so that they
meet nicely at the shoulder. Next we cut up the center steek and picked up
stitches and knit what would be the buttonhole band. After that was
complete, we trimmed the steek (reducing the # of stitches left to two) and
then criss-crossed them down to secure them. She emphasized that the
shetland yarn would not unravel, as it is somewhat fuzzy and the fiber
would mat together and not come undone. With wearing, the matting would
become even more secure. It was a very nice finish on the inside. My sample
did not have all shetland type yarns, altho they were all wool or blends.
Those that were more smooth would unravel and if I were to do this
technique I would not trim the steek as close to the band.  She said that
the steek technique is hard to do on silk and rayon types because they do
not stick to each other like wool fiber does. She also went around to each
person (27 in our class) to show how to pick up the band stitches. That
concluded the morning session. In the afternoon we started with her showing
and passing around swatches that demonstrated how she changes her colors in
her pattern. Some are mirror images, that is the color starts then changes
as it moves to the center and then changes back again as it goes out to the
edge, and some just had changes from top to bottom of the motif. It would
depend on the type of design mainly. It really gave me an understanding of
why her sweaters look the way the do, and how she gets that very subtle
effect. That lady has one excellent sense of color. I am really in awe of
people who have that gift, because it truly is a gift. I have taught
matting and framing for 12 years and I don't have that color  gift, but I
learned how to put colors together to enhance a picture. It can be learned,
but it takes practice. For our color exercise, we pooled yarn from a group
and then chose about 4 colors for our background and 4 colors for our
pattern and put them in an order so that one color would flow into the
next. We made sure that the contrast was always strong between the pattern
color and the background color. She came around to each individual to talk
about how the colors you choose would go together and then made suggestion
for possible improvement and also on how to expand the selection for
addition border patterns.  It was very interesting to listen as she looked
at each sample set, since everyone was different, each had different
suggestions. Quite a learning experience.

In the evening, Alice gave a free lecture. She started out telling us about
her land and its history, and how this place has influenced her designing.
It was a fascinating talk and the slides she showed were great. She ended
the show with just pictures, first of a landscape and then with a sweater
showing how the colors chosen related to the landscape, or of a slide from
the book of Kell and then a sweater designed from that, and so on. It was a
very intriguing picture of how where you live, what you see each day, how
you grew up, etc. is all translated into these lovely designs she creates. 

I hope I have conveyed what a wonderful experience for me it was. Alice is
an excellent teacher, excellent speaker, and although she has probably done
this hundreds of times, you never got the impression that she was in a
hurry or that she was tired and anything negative.  The sweaters that she
had on tour with her were absolutely wonderful to look at also. Of course,
the photos in books just don't do them justice. And the workmanship is
wonderful. One of the best things was examining all of her swatches. The
stranding is so even. The expertise surely shows. 

Sorry this has rambled on so...I tend to get wordy. Of course, all the
usual disclaimers apply.  I only wish I *had* some association with this
crew. Just think of all that neat yarn I would have at my fingertips. The
only way I have assess is to plunk my money down!
--
Susan Bleimehl
sbleimeh@students.wisc.edu